The Iowa Legislature's Veterans Affairs Committee approved its rules by voice vote and heard members share news of the death of Patrick Palmer Sheen, a long-time veterans advocate who helped organize the Iowa Veterans Cemetery.

Senator Dosser, a committee member, opened remarks by offering to work with colleagues and by notifying the committee that Patrick Palmer Sheen had died. "I'm more than happy to... let's work together," Dosser said, adding that Sheen's daughter called with the news and that Sheen "passed in his sleep." He said Sheen had been appointed by Governor Vilsack in February 2002 to head the Iowa Veterans Home and that Sheen had been instrumental in the creation of the Iowa Veterans Cemetery, including a groundbreaking in February 2006.

The announcement drew a brief response from Senator Salmon, who noted his own military service and that he was glad to serve on the committee. Following the remarks and routine business, the committee chair called for approval of the committee rules. The chair said the rules had been handed out and asked for a motion; members proceeded to a voice vote. The chair announced, "The ayes have it. The rules are approved."

The meeting transcript records the committee approving the rules by voice vote; no roll-call tally or recorded dissent appears in the transcript. Dosser also told the committee that Gary Scott would be taking over as a new staff member "on our side of the aisle," and he said Sheen had previously raised concerns about funding and maintenance at the veterans cemetery. Dosser reported Sheen served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971 or 1972 (as stated during the meeting).

The committee adjourned after the rules were approved.

Notes on sources and gaps: the transcript excerpt provides the committee's voice-vote approval and members' remarks but does not record who moved or seconded the motion to adopt the rules, the vote tally, or an official cause of death for Sheen. Dates and service years are reported as given by committee members; where the transcript expressed uncertainty (for example, the end year of Sheen's Vietnam service), the article reports that uncertainty rather than asserting a precise date.